If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall
by My5tic-Lali
Summary: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret is sent by her brother, King Ravus, to Altissia to marry the Oracle Noctis as a part of the peace treaty. She does not expect the world to turn on its head, to be announced dead, to be left with nothing but her friends, Iris, Gentiana, and Cindy. But it does, and she is. /AU where Luna is the main character. Full summary & characters inside
1. And the mountain crumble into the sea

*Title from Stand By Me by Florence + The Machine

Characters: Lunafreya Nox Fleuret; Cindy Aurum; Gentiana; Iris Amicitia

Other characters: Ravus Nox Fleuret; Noctis Lucis Caelum; Prompto Argentum; Ignis Scientia

* * *

 _In a matter of days, the Kingdom of Tenebrae is to sign an armistice, ending a long and bitter conflict with Niflheim. Ahead of the ceremony, Princess Lunafreya, heir to the Fleurian throne, sets forth from her homeland to formalize the union of states through her marriage to the Lord Noctis of the imperial province of Lucis._

 _The offer of peace, however, is no more than a ruse to lower the Fleurian shield, and the imperial army takes the crown city and its sacred crystal in one fell swoop. En route to her destination, Luna is shocked to learn that she, her brother the king, and her betrothed are believed dead._

 _Overnight, the dream of peace has faded into a distant memory. Her world crumbling around her, Luna has naught but her resolve and her loyal companions to see her through the trials to come._

* * *

 **|||THE TALE OF THE CHOSEN QUEEN, SAVIOR TO THE STAR|||**

There was fire. Heat. The kind that felt like it would consume you, the kind that blasted in your face and made you squint, the kind that buffeted through you and pushed you back.

Lunafreya had felt fire before. Had been confronted with heat so blistering you couldn't see through it.

But this—this was different.

This was not some overly hot summer day. This was not some bright campfire. This was not some out-of-control wildfire.

No. This was Luna, standing before Ifrit, her brother's cape around her shoulders and the weight of years sinking into her bones.

This was Luna, going to reclaim her throne.

She grit her teeth and, swiping a hand across her brow, focused on the enemy in front of her. This would not stop her. Her friends were already moving, heading towards the Astral, and she made herself follow.

The flames climbed higher around Ifrit, the heat feeling as though it could singe her even twenty feet away. Through the crackle of flames, she heard the tinkling of crystals as her friends summoned their weapons and flew into battle. Luna continued forward. It would take a lot to kill this particular enemy. With a wave of his hand, Ifrit caused a burst of flame that pushed her friends back, but Luna didn't stop. This was her castle. This was her reclamation. He would fall, just as all the other enemies they'd faced had fallen.

Summoning her weapon, Luna prepared to charge, only to hear a warning shout as Ifrit raised his hand once more, and fire consumed her vision.

She fell back, feeling the crackle of flames on her, this time, and rolled frantically to put them out, her weapon falling back into the nether. "Luna!" She didn't have to worry, however, because Cindy appeared at her side, tamping out the last of the flames from the cloak, hands moving swiftly, surely. "Hang in there, sis," Cindy commanded, and, once the flames were gone leaving only smoke, looked her in the eye long enough to say, "Stay there. We'll keep him busy."

Cindy raced back off as Luna dragged herself to her feet. There was another yell, through the crackle of flames, as Gentiana called her, "Luna! Over here!" She gathered herself, still panting, the echo of fire still on her shoulders, and made her feet move.

"Quickly, before he strikes again!"

Luna's faltering stride wasn't going to get her there in time, she knew, and she hated the way her insides shrunk at the thought of death, here. But then Iris, always right on time, appeared and, with an arm around her shoulders, practically carried Luna the last feet. Cindy appeared on Gentiana's other side, and Ifrit raised his hand again. "Here it comes," Cindy warned, and she and Iris pulled her and Gentiana's heads down, sheltering behind the rubble of the steps.

The flames, like molten lava, shot by over their heads with as much speed as if it came from a rocket's tail. They huddled together there, waiting for the fire to cease, but as soon as it did, Cindy and Iris raced off again, "We got your back, Luna." Gentiana folded a potion into her hand, the stopper already removed, and summoned her own weapon, "Drink, then join us."

She hurried off too, leaving Luna to down the potion in one gulp, and haul herself to her feet.

Luna faced Ifrit, letting anger rouse her from the thoughts of what was to come. "Let's go!" she yelled, and charged.

* * *

 **|||BEFORE THE FALL|||**

Outside the windows, she could see the cliffs and hillsides of Tenebrae, lit by the midday sun. It streamed into the throne room, from either side of the chair where Ravus sat.

Luna stood before her brother, raising her head under his scrutiny, with Cindy, Iris, and Gentiana slightly behind her. She wished, in some portion of her mind, that Ravus would be able to speak to her as he used to, to laugh with her as a prince and not King. But he did not, and though his eyes were protective—as they always were around her—his voice was clear, formal.

"The decreed hour is come." He sat with both hands on the arms of this throne, the cape around his shoulders and the collar flipped up. In his white hair lay the prongs of the crown. "Set forth with my blessing, Princess Lunafreya."

She bowed low, as she knew she should. The toes of her boots were freshly polished, but next to the white marble of the dais, they were still rough and unsuited for the court. "Thank you, Your Majesty." She spoke, not raising her head, but taking a deep breath. She rarely ever called him anything but his name. This was too formal, too strange, to be her departure. She wanted to go up there and hug him goodbye, to feel his arms squeeze once before letting go, because no matter that he was King and could not show weakness, he loved her, and never enjoyed it when she left. She wanted to not have to leave in the first place.

"Take your leave, and go in the grace of the gods." Ravus finished, his voice final, his face grave. Luna rose from her bow, and met his eyes once again. They were still her brother's, even if he spoke to her as King and not as family. But that didn't mean she forgave him. "I shall," Luna let her gaze fall from his, and turned on the spot. Something in her was rankled, yes, but she tried not to show it in her stride. Iris quickly stepped out of her way, and Luna continued down the steps.

There was a sigh behind her—she heard it, and knew it was Gentiana—and felt Cindy's eyes on her back, but her friends waited a moment, and bowed to Ravus before following her.

Luna led the way out of the throne room, her steps slightly quicker than usual. The door creaked shut behind them, leaving Ravus in an empty room.

The elder Fleuret looked after his sister, exhaling slightly, hands curling into fists.

This was not how she should set off.

* * *

"Well, Princesses will throw Princess hissy fits, I suppose."

"I used so much time teaching her royal protocol for nothing, then."

"At least it's over, right, Luna?"

She kept walking down the steps. Her friends followed, as she knew they would. Luna only stopped when Drautos' voice called, "Your Highness," and she turned to see not only the guard, but her brother too.

Ravus made his way down the steps, his left arm held close to his body by the gold elbow brace that he'd worn for years, and Luna's heart twisted at the bags under his eyes. Ravus had never looked like that before he'd been King, before he'd been bound to Vigilatus' barrier, to sustain it using the Crystal. Her friends continued a few more steps, but Luna stopped, a soft sigh escaping her. "Ravus," she muttered, and went back up towards him. Gentiana, Cindy, and Iris stopped too, looking back up after her.

Her brother stopped as she came up to him, his shoulders seeming to be weighed down by more than the crown. "I don't want to leave too much unsaid." He held up a hand to stop her from helping him down the last stairs. "You give a great burden to those who go with you." He began, and Luna spread her hands, the words hurting only because she wanted reassurance, not reprimand. "I am not the only one with a burden, King Ravus."

Ravus stopped and addressed her friends, but she didn't look away from him. "I don't ask you three to guide my little sister," his eyes flicked to hers, "Only that you would stay with her no matter what comes."

"Of course, Your Grace," Gentiana murmured, dipping into a graceful curtsy.

"We'll get the Princess to Altissia even if we have to carry her all the way there." Iris affirmed, a smile in her voice.

"What she said," Cindy said, shrugging a shoulder when Luna looked back at her. Luna just shook her head, and said, "The motor's going, we can't stay forever.

"Drautos, he's in your hands," Luna sent the words at the guard, turning from her brother, only to be stopped by Ravus once again.

"One more thing," Luna turned her head to look at him. "Be sure to give your betrothed my best wishes." She swept back up to him to give an exaggerated curtsy. "And give mine to Emperor Iedola, as well."

He raised his brows at her, as though to say, _That's what this is about?_ "We have our guests from Niflheim well looked-after."

"And Noct is as well," Luna said, knowing Iris' older brother and Ignis would be accompanying the Oracle to Altissia.

But Ravus was done with the niceties. "Be careful. This is one journey you can't derail."

She held her head higher. "How could I?"

Her brother faced her, and his shoulders lost a bit of their royal posture. "I just need to be sure you're ready for… all this change." _Ravus, forever the overprotective older brother._

"If I'm not prepared by now, I'll never be," Luna said, and turned to go. It'd been years since she'd started training. It'd been years since they'd been children together, years since their mother and father had been murdered. She had grown in more than age, no matter what Ravus thought. Going to Altissia wasn't going to kill her. Marriage wouldn't be the end of her. Why was Ravus so cautious? She was perfectly capable of both diplomacy _and_ journeying beyond Tenebrae. Luna could stay, could help Ravus with the peace treaty. And keep those Niflheim brutes honest, too. She clenched a fist. With the threat of _two_ Fleurets wielding the magic of the crystal, how could Niflheim try anything? But no. She was to leave, get married, he was to take care of the treaty. That was that.

"Take care on the long road," Ravus jerked forward again, as though to grasp her hand, as though he didn't want to say goodbye. "You carry the Line of Fleuret with you."

Luna didn't have a reply, but felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder. He drew her into a too-brief hug, squeezed her once, and then, looking deep into her eyes, said, "Walk tall, little sister."

* * *

The road was long, the sky wide and open. There were miles that still lay ahead, and miles from where they'd started. No retinue, no imperial guards, no too-helpful servants. Just her and her sisters, and the open road next to the rolling hills and empty sky.

Well, her and her sisters, an open road, and a broken-down car.

Luna sat against the grill on the Regalia, Iris standing beside her, trying to wave down one of the infrequent passing cars. The sun was hot, the asphalt hotter, and the Regalia wouldn't move.

Iris let her hand drop as they were again ignored, and sighed. "I guess hitching our way there is out... Thought the people were supposed to be friendly outside the city."

Gentiana, still behind the wheel, composed as always even in the heat, responded, "The kindness of strangers is a fickle friend."

Luna, still kneeling at the back of the car, saw Iris' shadow move as the guard stretched. "Guess we're pushing her!"

Cindy, laid out spread-eagled on the other side of the car, moaned, "I've been pushed already... to the brink of death."

Iris' voice contained little sympathy as she came back around to hit Luna's shoe with her own. "Oh, you aren't _dying_. There's the auto shop down the way, remember? Won't take long to get there." She helped Cindy up. "We just gotta do the heavy lifting first!"

Luna dragged herself to her feet too, and they moved to the sides of the car, with Gentiana still behind the wheel to keep the wheels forward. "I thought that was the car's job," Cindy moaned to Luna, but Luna just shrugged and got in position. "I mean, technically, yeah."

"Let's go!" Iris already had her hands braced. "Ready..."

She and Cindy exchanged another glance but at Iris' enthusiastic "Push!" they complied. Luna dug her boots into the road and heaved against the windshield. It began rolling—at a measly snail pace. "Why are cars so heavy?"

They crept on. It seemed to get hotter, at least to Luna's estimation, and they'd barely made it ten feet. "This. Sucks."

"You wanted a fairy tale beginning, huh, Luna?" Iris puffed, but her voice was cheerful.

"A good reminder of the harsh realities of life," Gentiana said philosophically, which was really her only way of speaking.

"Don't start, Gena, you're gonna make me think this is an omen," Cindy said, then, with a glance at Luna, hurried to add, "Which it totally isn't."

"Nope, no omens here!" Iris agreed, and Luna thought, exasperated, that she barely sounded tired.

"If you're so... unaffected," Luna began, "Then maybe you can push it yourself, Iris."

"Oh, ha-ha, just 'cuz I'm the official bodyguard doesn't mean I'm some brawny rockhead," the Amicitia said.

Cindy, glancing back at her, said, "You didn't even notice when I let go right there."

"You didn't let go."

"You weren't looking!"

"Ladies, all this talking is not going to make your job any easier," Gentiana cut in. She was so unruffled by all this. "I think it's your turn, Gena," Luna panted.

"Be fair!" Iris yelled back, "We just switched."

"And, anyway," Cindy said, "It's _my_ turn, Luna."

Gentiana inclined her head, which meant that Cindy was correct, but Luna wasn't about to concede the point. "This is going to kill my manicure," Cindy went on, but Luna knew she was just saying that on principle. Cindy didn't really care about her nails. But she considered it her job to lighten the mood, as she always had.

Luna watched her advisor fumble with the phone for a moment, and asked, "Any luck?"

"It appears we are out of service area."

Cindy groaned dramatically, "This was supposed to be a short jaunt into the countryside! How much farther?"

"I think you're mistaking kilometers for meters," Luna said, and Gentiana tapped the map with her forefinger. "We're not misreading the map."

"Hammerhead is close, though, right?" Iris asked.

"In comparison to the rest of the journey, Hammerhead _is_ close." Gentiana offered, and Luna screwed up her eyes in annoyance. "The world is a big place."

"Filled with great wonders," Gentiana agreed.

"Well, my legs don't care what wonders are out there. They hurt." Cindy shifted her grip on the car, and Iris' voice, slightly strained now, came from the back, "Keep pushing!"

* * *

They attracted a few stares.

Four girls pushing a sleek, black car into Hammerhead station, one of whom collapsed with groans of protest as soon as they were next to the gas pump, another who, in spite of the heat, looked as composed as if nothing had gone wrong, a third who had tossed off her jacket at some point leaving only her dotted crop top and showing off her impressive muscles, and Luna, who fell into the shade like she'd never seen it before.

However, this left her on the side away from where they were greeted, so her only warning for the approach was the sound of Cindy sitting up.

"Hey, ladies, we were expecting you guys hours ago!" Luna stood as Gentiana turned, meeting the slim figure of a blond young man probably Noctis' age. His voice was light, cheerful, and undeniably country. With his sharp gloves and the goggles around his neck, he looked like a mechanic, which Luna sure hoped he was.

"Now," he mused, "Which one of you is the princess?" He raised his eyebrows at Cindy, and smiled, offering her a hand up, but she brushed it away and stood herself, winking instead at Luna.

"That would be me," Luna corrected, and the guy's gaze immediately settled on hers. "Aha!" He blushed slightly, and moved around the car to meet her. "Congrats on your wedding, Your Highness."

Luna shook the hand he offered. "Not quite official, yet." She said, but the guy waved that away. "I'm old friends with Noct," he said, "I know he's been crushing on you forever. Might as well be official."

There was a tightening in Luna's stomach. She hadn't seen Noctis in... years. Sure, his dog, Pryna, carried letters between them, but the last they'd seen each other, had been when Niflheim occupied Lucis. It wasn't a memory she treasured. Noctis had chosen to stay behind, despite Ravus' offer of protection. He couldn't leave his father, or his country.

"Sorry for the delay," Gentiana transitioned smoothly, "We experienced some... unexpected difficulties."

"Oh, I'm not the one you've got to apologize to," he said back, "Gramps'll be the one who'll want an explanation." He dipped down to look at the car briefly, scanning the Regalia's sides and tires as if checking to see the damages.

"So then, you're—" Iris began, and he looked up at her.

"Prompto, yeah. Cid's grandson, and Noct's best friend!" He grinned at them. "Did Gladio tell you I'd be here?"

Iris nodded. "He told me we could trust you and Cid, yeah."

"Aww," Prompto said, looking up at her. "Gladio really _does_ care!"

Luna grinned, and Iris did too, but the Amicitia raised her hands and amended, "Well, what he actually said was 'Cid'll fix your car, and Prom will drive you nuts, but they won't tell anyone who you are.'" The Argentum's face fell comically, and Cindy laughed this time too.

Luna remembered that she _did_ know Prompto; or at least, she knew _of_ him. Noctis' letters which Pryna carried back and forth between them were often brief, but oftentimes were accompanied by pictures—of him, of Gladio or Ignis, of scenic views of Lucis or candids as they travelled, healing Starscourge—and Noctis had told her that his friend had taken them. Prompto must have been the photographer. From what Luna could gather from Noct's letters, they were very close.

"You got that right," came an aged voice from beyond Prompto, "Now get that car in here before I turn to dust, Prom!"

Prompto jumped, and turned as an old man who could only be Cid appeared. Luna recognized the man, even though his face was twice as wrinkled and his clothes much more grease-stained. Cid Argentum, one of her mother's three closest friends, along with Aura Leonis and Clarus Amicitia. "You know this one's not some beat-up ol' clunker, yeah, Princess? Ravus must'a mentioned it." His eyes met Luna's, and he scowled slightly. "Princess Luna."

"Pleasure to meet—" she began, but Cid waved her hand away, "No need to be all formal, missy. You're not a princess here any more than I'm a king. I knew your mother, back in the day..." He moved past her, eyes on the Regalia, but his tone remained rough, "And you're not ready for that title yet."

Cid ran an appreciative hand down the Regalia's hood as he spoke, but he paused and shook his head as he passed Luna, like he was somewhere else. Luna didn't have a response.

The mechanic continued speaking, but he wasn't looking at Luna anymore. "She's gonna take a while. Y'all bring her in and run along."

The old man tracked back into the garage, leaving Luna's group and Prompto behind. His grandson took a step as if to follow him, only to sigh and then turn back around to them, a smile back on his face. "What he said. I'll help y'all bring it in."

Cindy pushed him back, however, and said, "Just open the doors for us, will ya? We pushed her this far, I doubt twenty more feet'll do us in."

Luna raised her eyebrows at her, but Cindy just winked as Prompto complied, "Right over here, then!"

* * *

Galdin Quay was a bright place, the kind of picturesque beach and dock that one saw in magazines, and Luna thought distractedly that Noctis would probably love to fish there. Cindy was excited as they pulled in, but Luna couldn't think of why, given that they likely wouldn't have time to swim. Gentiana deftly backed up into a spot, and they all took a moment to cast their eyes over the scene in front of them. "Never seen an ocean so blue," Cindy commented, a smile on her face. "Maybe we'd have time for some food before we sail?" Iris glanced at the restaurant with its white décor and the polished waiters, but glanced at Gena quickly, "Not that I don't like your cooking, Gena, I just—"

Gentiana just held a hand up with a tilt of her head. "It's not quite the fare we are accustomed to from Fenestala Manor, I concur." Luna dipped her head to hide the laugh. Noctis had said that Ignis, his advisor, put the food at Castle Lucis to shame, but Gentiana was more skilled with a sewing needle than a frying pan. That was why Gena had designed her wedding dress, not the fancy designer Noctis had ordered his suit from. It was also why none of them ever turned down a chance to eat at the diners they passed, even if it meant they needed to take another hunt in order to replenish funds.

"Hey, Luna," Cindy sidled up to her as the other two began the walk to the Quay, "Think we'd have time to stop long enough for me to paint this? I brought my acrylics…" And Luna understood: Cindy was excited to paint, not to swim. "Would it be a prettier view from the boat, though?" she asked.

Cindy squinted her eyes at the landscape, tilting her head slightly, then shook her head. "No, I gotta be able to get all the shops and the patrons! Plus with the light coming from the sea, it'd look best from here."

"We'll ask Gena when we see when the next boat leaves." Luna promised, and hooked arms with her friend to lead her after Iris and Gentiana.

They strode down the open pier toward the restaurant, and beyond it, the dock. Luna couldn't be sure, but it did seem that there were a lot of people milling around, but then again, she didn't know how popular a place this restaurant was. Maybe this was a normal lunch crowd.

Two greeters welcomed them at the entrance with warm bows, and the couple at a nearby table was digging into what looked like the best-prepared fish Luna had ever seen. She really hoped that they could get a bite to eat before heading out for Altissia.

"I'm afraid you're out of luck."

Luna snapped her head up to see an unfamiliar figure striding right toward them. The man, clad in black and gray with a red scarf to highlight his reddish hair, met her gaze immediately, and a shiver went down her spine. "Excuse me?"

"The boats," he gestured over his shoulder, eyes still on Luna alone.

"What about them?" At her side, Cindy spoke up, her voice tighter than usual.

"Well, they'll not take you forth." The man finally looked away from Luna to turn toward the dock. Luna couldn't be sure, but the design on his hood and shirt looked… almost foreign. Like something she'd seen in the tapestries and paintings at Fenestala Manor.

Luna looked past him, and realized that the crowd she'd noticed earlier was concentrated past the restaurant and at the dock. They looked frustrated, at least to her eye.

"And you know this how?" Iris responded, her eyes still on the man, even if Cindy and Luna had begun to head toward the crowd. Luna looked back at her guard, surprised to see the slightest edge of caution in Iris' shoulders. Gentiana stepped up next to Luna, a quiet solidarity.

"I'm just an impatient traveler, ready to turn ship." And he looked away from them, once again walking, back toward the beach. "The ceasefire's getting us nowhere," the man idly commented, as though to himself. He stopped, as though thinking, but then turned with a movement just slightly too-fast.

A cling, and something came flying toward Luna's face.

She flinched, subconsciously, but Iris' hand came up and snatched the projectile before it could land.

Luna locked eyes with the man, even as Iris turned her palm up to reveal a flattened coin, one of the pressed ones you bought for souvenirs. Iris brought her gaze to bear on the stranger as well, but her voice had lost all congeniality as she spoke. "Some kind of souvenir?" A threat lay beneath her words.

"What?" Cindy ducked behind Iris to stand next to Luna, but it was more to brush her arm against Luna's than to examine the coin. Her eyes looked spooked, too, and Luna felt another shiver run down her spine.

"What is this?" Luna demanded, her eyes not leaving the man's. Even though it had just been a penny, danger senses tingled in the back of her head. Who in Bahamut's name was this guy, anyway?

"One might call it an allowance," the stranger gave a smirk that, while not entirely off-putting, did nothing to ease the suspicion that he was more than he appeared.

"And who would be allowing us?" Gentiana had glided to stand next to Iris, the two of them effectively blocking Luna from the man. Her voice held no overt hostility, but the hand she had behind her back, dagger shining, did.

The stranger spread his hands with the kind of smile that was not in any way reassuring.

"A man of no consequence."

* * *

Luna awoke the next morning in a comfortable bed with Cindy clanging around in the kitchenette of the cabin they'd rented.

 _In Tenebrae, citizens were woken by the sound of explosions and screams as Niflheim forces invaded the city walls._

She rolled out of bed and pulled on her clothes in time for the meagre breakfast Cindy made, with her friend's music pounding in the background.

 _In the royal Tenebrae court, the peace talks had ceased, leaving behind only rubble and the corpses of guards. Ravus stood alone against the armored Niflheim soldiers, crystals spinning around him as he summoned magic and his swords. His guards were already deployed, many already dead. He ignored the coldness tightening in his bones._

Cindy'd had the same, beat-up MP3 for as long as Luna had known her, and her friend rarely ever did anything without an earbud in—no matter how much Gentiana complained. She'd even managed to get Luna's advisor to agree to let the music play whenever Cindy had to drive, which wasn't often.

 _A series of explosions shattered through the cliffs, causing the upper homes to tremble and tumble down, sending screams to join the crackle of flames. The Magi-Tek soldiers cut down any who weren't crushed._

Iris reentered as they finished, and Luna looked up, expecting to see Gentiana behind her, but seeing only the Amicitia. "Where's Gena?" she asked, and Iris shook her head, "I think she's asking about the boats again. She'll be back in a minute."

 _Inside the throne room, a battle of smaller scale but no less devastating wracked the room. Two figures, engaged in a one-sided war. Ravus' lightning, the sizzling magic summoned through his fingertips, blasted into the General, only to be absorbed by his sword. The man's armor repelled the sparks, and he stomped on, closer and closer to Ravus. But the King could do no more than keep the lightning tearing into him, had no more energy or mana to fight back._

 _So when the soldier came close enough, deflecting the lightning up into the ceiling, Ravus stumbled, only to be caught as the man's sword came around and slipped into his chest._

With the door's aperture, they all looked over, Iris rising and her mouth opening in greeting, only to stop as she got a look at Gentiana's face. She had a newspaper in her hand.

 _General Glauca stalked out of the throne room, leaving the crumpled form of King Ravus on the ground where he'd died._

Gentiana's gaze went straight to Luna, however. "What's wrong, Gena?" Luna asked.

Her advisor looked away, and instead gave the paper to Iris, who had risen to meet her. "I saw the paper as I was trying to call Drautos."

"And what's in the paper?" Luna asked, as Iris took it, and scanned the front page, her face going from mildly concerned to frozen in moments.

Cindy leaned to see over Iris' shoulder, and she read the headline aloud. "'Vigilatus... falls'?"

Luna leapt to her feet. "What?!"

Holding up a restraining hand, Gentiana pushed her back. "Calm down, Luna."

"'Calm down'?! Gena, what is this?" Luna shook away her hand.

Inclining her head—forever graceful, forever controlled—Gentiana said, "There's been an attack. Niflheim's army has taken the crown city." She felt her heart skip a beat, the words like a knife.

Cindy was still reading. "'As treaty room tempers flared, blasts lit the sky. When the smoke about the Citadel had cleared, the king' _..._ " her friend swallowed, carefully making eye contact with Luna, "...'The king was found dead.'"

The floor seemed to waver underneath Luna's feet. "No, that can't... Ravus..."

Gentiana's hand came to rest on her shoulder. "We couldn't have known."

Luna flinched, and turned to glare at her. "Known what? The signing wasn't supposed to happen until—"

"Until Altissia, and your wedding, I know," Gentiana agreed. "We had no way of knowing that it would happen early. We have no way of knowing _why_ , either. But every newspaper, every news site, is saying the same thing."

"No," Luna said, and then again, because maybe getting angry would make her chest not feel like it had a hole, "No! That's not true!"

But she sat down, the words unable to convince her, no matter how much she wished they were true. "If only," Cindy said, her voice weighted with shock.

Iris turned to Gentiana, though. "What else do we know?" The black-haired woman shook her head. "Then we have to go find out for ourselves."

"Go back to Tenebrae?" Cindy looked over from her contemplation of the sunshine outside.

"It could be dangerous for us there," Gentiana warned.

"Might be dangerous for us here, too," Cindy shot back.

"Luna," Iris interrupted, "Should we go back?"

The princess looked up at her. Her brother, her kingdom. Her family, her home. It was dangerous to return.

Luna didn't give it a second thought.

"Yes."

* * *

As they left Galdin Quay, the sky turned dark, and it began to rain. Fitting, Luna thought, because the sunshine of the early morning had felt fake.

Cindy and Iris tried to stay positive. Gentiana tried to keep them from speculating. Luna… Luna swallowed her anger and her fear and everything else and pushed it down deep, in the hopes that the tightness in her stomach would be for nothing. But there were imperial dreadnaughts flying overhead, and the radio spoke only of the confusing news, and an inspection point stopped them before they could make it to Vigilatus. "We'll go around," Iris offered, "If we can't go through."

They found themselves on a rise, Vigilatus still obscured by the low mountains, but even from here, Luna could see smoke—what she had before thought was cloud, but now looked too dark and straight to be anything else.

Cindy had her phone tuned into the radio station. And it offered no comfort. " _As to ceasefire discussion between the two nations, all provisional terms have been suspended in light of recent developments._ " Luna closed her eyes. She held onto the hope that whatever came next would not spell the destruction of her home. She knew it was likely to. It was still raining.

" _Moreover, in the wake of the news of King Ravus' death,_ " Luna felt Gentiana and Iris look at her, " _We have now received word that Crown Princess Lunafreya and the Oracle Noctis have also been pronounced dead._ " She shuddered, and sucked in a harsh breath. _Noctis…_

Cindy gasped too, and looked at Gentiana for instruction, but Iris overrode her, "Keep it on!" The blonde hesitated, as Gentiana bowed her head, but Luna let the grief tearing at her insides come out, and it came out angry and short. "Turn it off." Her breath came in short pants, her hands shook ever so slightly, but Luna just stared out at the landscape. She knew loss. She knew grief. She had felt it before, learned to deal with it. Why did this hurt so much, then? Why was this worse, even, than her parents' murder? Her brother, her fiancé, her home, all gone in one fell swoop. She just needed to… she just needed to…

Luna just needed to hear it from someone she knew. She needed to know if it was true. _How_ it could be true.

Imperial dreadnaughts appeared above them, but Luna reached for her phone anyway. The line connected as the planes passed, and it was only her breathing that echoed back at her. "H-hello?" She couldn't be sure what she'd heard, not with the planes' engines. "Aura?" _Please?_

A pause.

And then, a familiar voice. " _You made it, right?"_

Luna screwed her eyes up, hoping to hold back tears. "Aura, please tell me you know what's going on."

" _Tell me where you are first._ " Scratchy, over the line, Aura's voice came across more rough than Luna was used to, but she knew the Marshal's cautiousness well enough to not be surprised. "Outside of Vigilatus, no way in."

" _Good,_ " was the terse reply, and Luna felt her anger rise back.

"Aura, just tell me," Luna kept her voice from rising, however, "Just tell me if the radio's right and if my brother and Noct are dead!"

After a too-long pause, she finally responded. " _I'm going to Hammerhead. I'll meet you there._

 _"And… they're right, about the king."_

Luna flinched, physically, her fingers tightening around her slick phone, eyes going back to the retreating backs of the imperial dreadnaughts. They were going back to the capitol. They were bringing more troops to plunder her home. Her home, where her brother's corpse now lay, likely without anyone to bury him. Without anyone to care. She tore her eyes away, a sick feeling in her stomach and an even worse pain in her heart. Ravus… she hadn't even said a proper goodbye. She hadn't thanked him. She hadn't been there to help him. She hadn't known.

" _Luna, listen. I'll be in Hammerhead, and I'll explain everything there. I need to move, there's too many Niflheim forces here. Please, hurry and meet me there. They'll kill you if they find you, you know that, right?_ " She nodded numbly, then made her mouth work, "Yes." It was still raining. Not the comforting type of rain, either, the dampening, miserable type that soaked into your clothes and seeped into the ground so you couldn't even walk without getting caught in the mud.

Luna couldn't bring herself to say anything else, so when the line went dead, she just lowered the phone from her ear, eyes still trained on the mountains that hid her home.

Gentiana approached, silently, behind her. "What did the marshal have to say, Luna?"

"She's… going to Hammerhead." It seemed simplest—maybe easiest, actually, for Luna to face—to start there.

"And… the king?" Iris came up, too, close enough to comfort if need be but still far enough away that Luna could not glance at her.

Cindy's boots slogged through the mud to join them, but Luna didn't respond. She couldn't. She opened her mouth to, but found the words lodged in her throat, and just shook her head, finally looking away from the cliffs to stare at the ground beneath her feet instead.

Gentiana's quiet hand came to her shoulder, and, without saying a word, Cindy wrapped her in a one-armed hug. Iris caught the phone from her hand, just as it slipped from Luna's fingers.

It was still raining.

* * *

There was one gate out of Vigilatus that was open, unguarded.

Only one, and it was full of rubble and felt like a ghost town, with the doors blown off their hinges and the fences falling apart.

It was here that Noctis exited Tenebrae's capitol. He had walked from the city, down through the town and the burning houses, past the corpses and the soon-to-be corpses, hiding from Magi-Tek and daemons alike. Every time he closed his eyes, Noctis saw the events playing back. Fire, and screams. Magi-Tek soldiers blasting through everything in their path. A roaring daemon. His guards dying. Losing sight of Gladio as his bodyguard ran to help a family, and not finding him again. Aranea… Noctis flinched with the thought of the deaths. The day had been an eternity, every hour a year. The world had been turned on its head, and here he was. Nothing familiar in sight, nothing but open road ahead—except for the two blurs that came out of the wilds, straight to his side as though they had homing beacons installed.

Pryna and Umbra greeted him as he exited Vigilatus, their fur smooth and familiar, and Noctis felt himself smile, in spite of everything. They nuzzled his hands and whined their pleasure at seeing him again, but Noctis knew that if they were _both_ there, then that must mean…

On Pryna's back, held in place by the black pack he had ordered for her, was the notebook, and Noctis unclipped it, the worn red cover comforting in ways he couldn't describe.

A comfort, and a curse, because Noctis knew that in the burning city behind him, Luna's brother lay dead, and because he had no idea if Lunafreya was still alive. Prayers for her safe arrival in Altissia had been sent, sure, but there was no guarantee that she would be untouched by the horrors that had occurred since she'd left Tenebrae. He could only hope that she would continue to Altissia, as he also had to do, in spite of how much he wanted to stop and take a nap. There was still a responsibility laid on his shoulders as Oracle. It would not go away. The duties before him remained, and Luna had hers.

When Noctis looked up, Ignis had appeared, as he so often did, out of what seemed like thin air. His advisor, the Messenger, said nothing, but Noctis stood anyway, and slowly unclenched the fist that held the Ring of Fleuretes. He hadn't let go of it for hours. It was cold, so cold, no matter that he hadn't let go of it for hours. No matter that it had been worn again and again that day. No matter that it was meant to be the thing that would save them, that would give Luna the power to defeat the starscourge, it felt dark, and so cold.

Ignis nodded at him, once, eyes still closed, and Noctis tucked the ring back into his hand. Those who had died to get the ring here… those who had died to get Noct himself, out of Vigilatus… their sacrifice would not be in vain. He would bring the ring to Luna. He would complete his job as Oracle.

Noctis stepped forward, eyes up, out of Vigilatus, and on the road towards the Astrals.

...

* * *

 **A/N:** Here it is, the FFXV remix that you all asked for-oh wait, none of you asked for this? I wasn't bombarded with people saying 'oh you should totally switch the characters in FFXV so we have Luna as MC and get to see HER character arc'?

Oh right, it was just me.

So this was entirely written for my enjoyment, and it took much too long to be a short fic and seeing as I am not opposed to writing another chapter, this isn't complete yet, but it depends on how y'all like it and whether I ever get enough free time to write..

.

Thank you SO much for reading, a kudo or a review that tells me that you read this would mean soo much to me, but thanks either way!

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So, I got to be a Latin nerd and change some of the names with this AU, so:

Vigilatus= Latin for _awake, awareness_ (as the capitol of Fleuret, to complement Insomnia, the capitol of Lucis, because _insomnia_ means _sleeplessness_ )(Thank you to Anichame for correcting me!)

Aura= Latin for _soul_ or _breath_ (a replacement for Cor Leonis, let's just pretend he doesn't exist, because _cor_ means _heart_ in Latin)

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Come talk to me on tumblr, under literally-in-too-many-fandoms!

Also posted on Archive of Our Own, under My5tic_Lali!

 **(EDITED 3/25/17)**


	2. I won't cry, I won't cry

**|||THE POWER OF QUEENS|||**

* * *

There really was nothing else for it.

Niflheim soldiers manned every entrance and exit to Luna's home, even if she thought she _could_ do anything by trying to sneak through. And it wasn't as though she could summon the crownsguard, even if they were… were _hers,_ now, not if Aura was making her way out of the city. If the Marshal was leaving, that meant whatever remained of the royal guard had departed as well. So Gentiana turned the Regalia around, and the rain-slicked roads passed by under their tires as the other girls made murmured conversation that just led back to one place: Hammerhead. They'd know answers at Hammerhead. Aura would tell them what she could, and they would move from there.

It was the only hope they had left.

The reports did come in over the radio, of Vigilatus' destruction and the King's death. But their words ranged from " _Vigilatus razed to the ground by Niflheim forces, with the royal family of Fleuret and the Oracle's bodies found in the castle_ " to " _A minor disagreement at the treaty signing in Vigilatus._ " They turned the radio off, after a while, because the deathcounts just racked higher and higher, and Gentiana didn't trust the stations enough to rely on their information. Without Luna needing to say anything, her advisor was already pushing the speed limit.

Iris had heard from her brother, Gladiolus, but only briefly. She mentioned that he was joining the other refugees to Lestallum, having been separated from Noctis in the confusion. Luna's stomach twisted with the news, but knew that it comforted Iris, at least. It only drove a spike of worry deeper into her chest, however, because she still had no idea whether Noctis was even alive. He wasn't supposed to be in Tenebrae. Why had he been in the capitol? Why hadn't he been heading for Altissia, like Luna?

From Gladio's words and the varying reports from the radio, it sounded like very few people had made it out, but at least not _all_ of Luna's countrymen were dead—if the reports were to be believed, if the number of Niflheim warships overhead, searching for survivors, were any indication.

It didn't comfort her much.

As they drove into Hammerhead, the night closing in just a shade too early, Luna caught sight of a familiar figure rushing out of the garage—Prompto had been waiting for them, it seemed.

The blond was at the door of the Regalia before Gentiana had even turned off the engine, and his eyes swept the tinted windows—they stopped when they found Luna, and he sagged, physically, before knocking on Gena's window, holding his other hand out to stop Iris from getting out. "There's still some customers in Takka's, drive around back and go into the garage from there, just in case," he said, his voice strangely tight, eyes unusually dark.

"Thank you, Prompto," Gentiana responded, as Luna frowned at the added delay. It was too late to go after Aura, in all likelihood, anyway. But she didn't want to have to hide. Logically, she knew it was wise—the Niflheim soldiers they'd fought at the outpost had certainly known to attack her, so Iedola knew she wasn't dead even if the news stations reported it. The chances she'd be recognized were slim.

But they wouldn't risk it.

Gentiana spun the wheel and they slunk to the back, the lights from Takka's haunting, the dim glow of the garage a bare flicker next to it. Would this be their journey, now? Fleeing any people who might identify her and dodging from campground to back alley and back?

Seeming to sense her thoughts, Luna felt Cindy's hand on her shoulder. Her friend's green eyes met hers with the most of a smile she could muster with all the tension. "Don't worry, Luna. We didn't exactly hide when we first came here, so more people might recognize you. Everywhere else, no one knows us."

Luna made herself smile, if only for Cindy's benefit.

Parking the car behind the garage, they entered through the back and into the rusty, messy workstation where Cid awaited them, but at least it was dry, and free of any prying eyes. Cid lounged in a chair near a worktable, but it seemed to Luna that while he was resting, the old man certainly wasn't at ease. He glanced up at them. One look at Luna's face, and the mechanic gave a sigh.

"What's inside Vigilatus that you can't find nowhere else? The Queens' ring, and that crystal. What they've been after this whole time."

"And the peace treaty as nothing but a pretext." Gentiana's chin was held high, but Luna knew her well enough that the way she held her shoulders spoke of just how rattled her advisor was. But all that remained inside Luna was anger, frustration, to hide the grief that still rang through her body like a blow. "They played my brother for a fool." _He let me leave, he_ made _me leave, but they never wanted peace, they never were going to give up the war._

"Your brother knew it was bound to happen."

Though she flinched, Luna gathered herself and looked Cid in the eye. "What, you think he was born yesterday?" Cid put a hand on the table to push himself up, and as he did so, Luna caught sight of the photo standing there: a wide shot of four figures arrayed against a blue sky, faces high and lit by sunshine. It was her mother, and Aura, Clarus, and Cid himself. Mother had had a copy in her study, and Luna's brother had kept it there as a remembrance even when he took over as king. Ravus had been only a boy when that photo was taken, Luna knew. "Your mother knew what was coming, and she wasn't about to let Ravus forget it. He made the best of a losing hand that he knew he'd be dealt. I can promise you, if Ravus had anything of your mother in him, he sure didn't go down without a fight."

Luna finally glanced away from Cid. What was it that Aura always said when she or her brother did something particularly pig-headed? _The silver Fleuret line, with more stubbornness in them than magic._

"In the end, though… Well, it just wasn't enough."

A silence spread out from the old man in the wake of his last words, and Luna saw Cindy bow her head as Iris raised her own toward the ceiling. Luna remembered, suddenly, the smoke rising above the mountains where she'd grown up. The thought that in the end, all the magic in the crystal wasn't enough to stop death, to push back Niflheim from the destruction they were hell-bent on causing. The light was still fading, outside the windows, casting tinted shadows through the glass that crept closer as the sun set below the rainclouds.

Cid gave another tired sigh, and turned to go. "You need something else, you talk to Aura." He glanced, once, at the photo on the table. "Been so long since I saw that brother o' yours. Even longer since your mom. A lifetime, at least."

And though it had been only days, Luna agreed with him.

* * *

They left in the morning, after Prompto's repeated assurances that no one would know they had ever been there. It was sweet, how he tripped over his feet to try and offer a place to spend the night—"The RV, on the house, of course."—or escort them to the nearest campground when they refused, but it wasn't until Cindy stopped him and asked, "Prompto, you know we can take care of ourselves, yeah?" that the youth stopped, seemingly brought up short by the implication. It was in that second that Luna saw a pain that mirrored her own in his eyes. "I—" in any other situation, his stuttering would have been endearing. "I, a' course I know that, didn't mean to imply—I mean…" Prompto's energy seemed to drain off him, and he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Sorry 'ta sound like I'm hovering, ladies. I just…" He looked off into the gathering night.

"You haven't heard from Noctis, have you?" Luna asked, knowing full well that it was a longshot, that if Gladio had lost track of him, it wasn't likely that the Oracle's best friend was likely to have heard from him either. But she had to know.

"He didn't even tell me he was going to Tenebrae," It was a mere whisper, and Prompto didn't even look at them as he said it, but Luna heard the frailty in his voice, like glass, that she herself felt about Noct's disappearance.

The moment passed, however, and Prompto looked back at them with his signature smile plastered once again over the fear and grief. "Y'all lemme know if there's anything me or Gramps can do, ya hear? Tune ups are officially twenty-five percent off for any displaced princesses who stumble into the garage, especially when they're accompanied by such a lovely group of ladies!"

They left with the laughter that only stretched nerves can inspire, and Iris pitched their tent under the stars with the runes glowing beneath them. In the morning, they would go find Aura. And answers.

The daemons that stalked the area around their camp and the mournful howls of the wildlife did nothing to dissuade the determination inside Luna's chest.

* * *

They met Aura in a tomb, which Luna thought was fitting.

It was dark, twilight outside and shadowy inside, but they had their torches clipped to their collars, and they found their way there without much of a problem, even with the imperial forces lurking everywhere.

It was white marble and gray slate, a tomb fit for a queen, as Cindy commented when it came in view. It gleamed, bright and open, in the low light of their torches, but it still didn't feel safe. Luna pushed the doors open anyway, stone grinding upon stone as they slowly opened.

"Marshal," Gentiana was the first inside after Luna, and she greeted the solemn-faced woman inside with more composure than Luna felt at the moment. "Been waiting," Aura said, but didn't incline her head or anything at Luna's presence. She had been standing next to the stone effigy of the queen entombed here, her dark crownsguard uniform somehow still impeccable, her gaze just as sharp and piercing as ever.

"Any reason you couldn't wait at the outpost?" Luna asked, her frustration still near the surface. She wanted so desperately to ask about her brother, to demand answers about what had happened to Vigilatus, but she knew it would do no good.

Aura gestured at the effigy. In the clasped hands of the ancient Queen was a gleaming sword, untouched by time and rust. "The power of queens, passed from the old to the new through the bonding of souls." Laying a hand over the queen's head, Aura pierced Luna with her glare. "This is one such soul. The power the queens of Tenebrae held is passed down to each new generation, and it is your birthright," the glare became more heated, "And duty as queen to claim it."

But Luna was tired of the high-talk, and found her frustration would not be contained. "Queen? I am no Queen, not when I was forced to abandon my people and my city when they needed me most!"

She heard her friends shift behind her, but Luna only had eyes for Aura. She expected her to be a queen, but her duty had been in Vigilatus, with her brother. How could Luna be what Aura demanded if no one would tell her the whole story?

"Luna, now is not the time to dwell on the past," Aura shot back, "The duty of the ruler is to—"

But she overrode her, "To send away his sister? To protect _me_ instead of our people? What kind of duty is that? Ravus _ignored_ his duty to save his sister alone!"

"Look beyond your own feelings, Lunafreya!" Aura came around the stone effigy. "Ravus entrusted you with the queenship."

"'Entrusted me'?" Luna tore her eyes away to look at the statue instead, anger burning through her. "He sent me away. Ravus didn't say a _thing_ about entrusting me with anything! He just st-stood there, and…" her throat constricted, "And hugged me goodbye."

Not a word. Not a word about the treaty, about his suspicions, about the weight he was to leave behind on Luna's shoulders.

"Why would he lie to me?"

Silence grew from her words and gripped the room, as Luna found herself clenching fists around the lip of the dais in front of her, jaw locked and eyes burning. The queen, clutching that sword, stared up at the ceiling, her sightless eyes gazing from an emotionless face. Ravus had told her stories, once upon a time, of the queens of old. He had been her brother, once. They had been close, and she had thought there was nothing he couldn't do. But then came the responsibilities of the crown, the weight of the Ring and the barrier, and suddenly Ravus was gone from her life. She had gone to school and Gentiana had taken over her mythology lessons. The kingship had made him into a far-off figure that she could never reach, could never connect with. And he had stopped talking to her, stopped telling her things. Ravus had kept all this from her. He had sent her off to her wedding like some idiot, knowing full well that Insomnia was going to attack.

And then he had died. And Luna had lived. And she could not forgive him for that.

Aura spoke again, gentler this time. "When he said goodbye to you, he didn't want you to remember him as the king. In what time he had left, he wanted to be your brother."

The words struck like a blow. Luna squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears.

"Ravus always had faith in you, that when the time came, you would ascend for the sake of your people."

And there it was again, that duty. But this time, it lent Luna the strength to stand upright again, to clear her eyes and meet Aura's gaze once more. "What a way to make me feel obligated," Luna said, "Go and die so I can't refuse." Cindy gave a wet-sounding laugh behind her, and Luna looked back at the queen's effigy, and at the sword she held.

With her brother gone, with Vigilatus fallen, someone had to fight back against Niflheim's ceaseless war. Tenebrae had only been able to do so because of the power of the Crystal, the power of the Queens. Ravus had taken it on in her mother's stead, and now Luna had to as well.

She held up a hand, over the ridged sword resting on the statue's chest. Armiger. It would become part of the Armiger. Luna felt for the vein of magic in the back of her mind and tapped into the feeling of weightlessness therein.

The sword burst into a gleam of white light, crystals flying from it as it rose out of the queen's stone hands and into the air. Her friends flinched from the bright light, but Luna made herself look as the sword rose into the air, higher and higher, shimmering with magic. Unconsciously, she stepped back, as it rose as though to go through the ceiling. She wasn't controlling it, that much she knew.

It came to a halt, hovering there above her, as though it was waiting for permission. As though it was giving her one last chance to reconsider.

Then, with a graceful swoop, the sword curved down faster than the eye could track, and Luna felt the tip hit her chest.

A burst of crystals. The pain was fleeting, but present, as the sword passed through her and into the Armiger, the blue light now shining from within Luna's own body. It appeared again in the midst of the sparkling crystals, spinning upright around her, waiting for her call.

"The power of queens goes with you, Your Majesty."

Luna held a hand up to the point where the sword had hit, the title hurting almost more than the phantom sword. Then, the Armiger disappeared in a flash of light, and her friends flinched from the outburst of magic.

The light faded around her, leaving just the dark tomb and her friends, the magic fading and leaving her nothing but a girl, standing before a stone effigy with her world turned upside down and an impossible task remaining before her.

* * *

Aura left them at the entrance to Keycatrich Trench, after pressing the key to the Royal Tombs into Luna's hand. She was off to keep an eye on the Niffs, she said.

Luna watched her leave. Something had changed in the Marshal, something to strip her of the joviality Aura used to carry under her Marshal-face, something to make her look at Luna and expect something more than Luna could give.

But then again, doubtless Aura was just as grieved as the rest of them about Vigilatus' fall, and Luna and her friends hadn't even been there to see the destruction themselves.

They headed inside the dark cavern, Luna more than aware that any number of daemons might lurk inside. A part of her wished that Aura would stay, just for the extra strength in battle, but then again… Iris brushed against her as the Amicitia scouted ahead, and Cindy was already ahead of them, enthusiastically checking out the rusted doors and long-abandoned supplies. They would be all right.

Gentiana remained behind her, for just a moment, but when Luna turned to look back at her, her advisor just shook her head with a small smile, and adjusted her glasses before heading in as well. Luna knew that Gena didn't prefer small spaces—the reason she always drove with the top of the Regalia down, even though it mussed everybody's hair—but that wasn't about to stop her from following Luna.

 _Not just my companions,_ Luna thought, as she too walked into the damp darkness, toward the tomb where another weapon awaited her. _My sisters._

After all the goblins and wrong turns, the ornate door of the tomb finally came into view. According to the clock, they'd been in the trench for hours—but Luna supposed it was worth it, for the axe that was inside the marble tomb.

The Queen here, the Conqueror, had her brows low in concentration and challenge even in death, and when Luna called for the weapon, it seemed to come with eagerness, with a desire to be used again. It was a large axe, but when it joined the Armiger, it seemed to her that it had shrunk, just enough that she could wield it.

Luna ignored the ache in her chest where the weapons had impacted, and the new weight in the back of her mind where the weapons laid. She was tired. More than physically.

But she turned around and led the way out, anyway.

* * *

Her phone rang as they exited, making Luna flinch and hurriedly grab it to stop the ringing—Gentiana giving her a glare as she pointedly checked the area outside for Niflheim patrols. They'd barely made it in the cavern without a drawn-out battle with the magi-tek suits.

"Hello?"

" _Luna, finally. Thought I'd lost another royal."_

"Hey, it's a labyrinth in this trench," Luna protested, mouthing _Aura_ to her friends when they sent her curious glances, "And you're the one who wanted me to build my arsenal."

" _It's a necessity, not a desire,"_ without the in-person glare, Aura's words didn't sound angry. " _But I have another job, if you're up for it."_

Though she inwardly flinched at the thought of yet more fighting, Luna agreed.

" _The empire has begun construction of a new base, along the road west to Duscae. I need you to put a stop to it. If it's finished, it'll block us from access to the west—and all those royal tombs beyond. Talk to Monica, she'll give you the details."_

"Okay," Luna replied, and no sooner had she agreed did the Marshal end the call. She pocketed the phone, and turned to look at her friends.

"New orders?" Cindy winked at her, and Luna nodded. "The usual. Some Niffs need to be reminded they don't own Tenebrae."

Cindy and Iris exchanged grins. "Oh, that's one thing we can do," Cindy responded.

* * *

The backdoor into the Norduscaen Blockade involved a lot of sneaking, which Luna expected, and a lot of splitting up, which she had not. Monica had said the Marshal wanted Luna to infiltrate with her, so she left the others to meet up with Aura once again.

"Save some Niffs for us, yeah?" Iris had waved a cheery goodbye.

The problem was that there were so many Magi-tek soldiers on the inside that Luna didn't think there would be any left for her friends.

She slammed yet another marksman into the wall, feeling the armor spark beneath her. Luna dismissed the Sword of the Wise and scrubbed a hand across her forehead. The weapons drained her, not just of magic energy, but seemingly of life itself. Luna didn't remember ever feeling this tired, this wrung out, in a long time. This was what her brother had lived with every day since he'd accepted the kingship… Luna shook her head.

When Aura waved to get her attention, Luna warped back down to the ground level, and they set off again toward the main gate. The Marshal had seemingly unending energy, and while Luna felt more tired than ever, she made herself follow. She didn't want to make Aura think she wasn't up to this.

Peeking from behind the cliff-face, Luna identified the last three Magi-tek soldiers before they could get the door open. She glanced at Aura, only to see the older woman give a mock bow. _You can have them_.

Luna tried not to frown, and made herself summon her knives again. The sniper, first.

She stepped out from behind cover, just enough to ready her arm and hurl the knife at the marksman on the second level. The two other soldiers noticed, but by the time they'd gotten their weapons up, magic had already embraced Luna and her knife had made contact. She blinked, and suddenly she was slamming into the sniper, the knife just off-center enough to have missed the power core. Ducking back, she knocked the gun out of its hand and swept its legs out from under it, with enough time to drive her weapon more accurately into its core before the soldiers below realized where she was.

Bullets pinged off the metal beside her, and Luna threw herself into a roll to avoid the attacks. A flick of her wrist, and she called for the polearm she'd borrowed from Cindy. Luna preferred firearms or throwing knives, herself, but Iris had made Luna learn every weapon they carried, which took more time than hand-to-hand, in all honesty.

She wasn't quite as accurate yet with throwing them, however, and instead Luna just took a leap off the walkway to land on the next trooper's head. The polearm absorbed most of the impact, but it still jarred her as Luna's jump took the soldier down, and she had to hurriedly dismiss the weapon as the other MT came for her. Another burst of crystals, and Luna raised her favorite handgun to fire twice, point-blank, into the trooper's face. It collapsed, too, in a burst of sparks, red eyes flickering out as it fell.

"Good job," Aura commented as she followed Luna out, "But you missed one."

Luna spun, gun up, but only to find that the Marshal had beat her to it. A second sniper, just out of her sight, was lying, pinned to the rock wall by Aura's katana. It twitched weakly, but powered down a second later.

"You took it out before I even saw it," Luna said.

"Wasn't hard, seeing as you weren't looking over there," Aura pointed out, but stepped closer to Luna a second later. "Look, you have to keep your eyes open, okay? You've got some good people watching your back, but you won't always."

"Thanks for the reminder," Luna shrugged her off, and went to open the door. She took a deep breath. Only two days before, Luna's life had been normal. Now, she was left with the weight of a broken kingdom and an impossible destiny.

"This is why we start with the easier targets," Aura continued, as though Luna hadn't spoken. "Step by step, you'll get better." Luna looked back at her in time for the Marshal to give her a small smile.

The doors opened, and at Cindy's call of "Luna!" she turned to face her friends. They stood among the various corpses of MTs, with Monica nearby, dusting off her hands. "Good plan, Marshal," Gentiana greeted Aura. "Yeah, the Niffs were so preoccupied with us that I didn't even hear a single warning bell on your end," Iris came over to stand at Luna's side.

"Marshal!"

Monica's cry gathered all their attention, however, and the five of them flinched to look as the crownsguard pointed overhead.

Luna turned to see the shadow of a Niflheim airship zooming over the landscape toward them, and reached out into the Armiger for the Axe of the Conqueror, as Iris and Gentiana closed in protectively on either side.

"Stay right where you are." The voice, fuzzy from the broadcast speakers, was distinctly male and youthful, but unfamiliar. Aura straightened, however, as the airship began a descent, right on top of them.

"Well, well, if it isn't Aura the Immortal. So you did survive the Citadel."

The doors shuddered open, and a young blond man in black and gold Niflheim armor greeted them. He stood in the shadow of the biggest Magitek armor Luna had ever seen.

"Loqi," Aura growled, under her breath, as the airship came to a stop above them.

"But you won't survive what I have in store for you. It's past time your legend came to an end."

The armor tilted, and shuddered as the engines propelled it out of the airship to land with an earth-quaking thud in front of them. "A MA-X Cuirass," Cindy whispered, as more Magitek soldiers dropped down after it.

"Fight now, be impressed later," Luna said, and readied to warp into the midst.

"Luna," Aura held her back, "Let us go first."

"But—"

She was stopped as Iris took off running, the spear her guard preferred appearing in her hands as she pulled it from the Armiger. Gentiana was right behind her, with her short sword in hand, and took out two MTs with two slashes. "Guard up, wait for them," Aura commanded, and removed her hand from Luna's shoulder. "Then, go."

She looked up at the Cuirass, its rockets readied to fire. She would've run straight into those rockets. Still could.

But Cindy was beside her, and Gentiana and Iris clearing the way, with Aura waiting behind them to assist. And this would not stop them.

* * *

The crownsguard had left after Loqi's defeat.

The road to the west lay open, the sun bright. Luna had even begun to get used to the dust in the air.

"It's not that bad out here, after all," Iris came up beside her.

"And I bet it gets even better," Cindy grinned as she passed Luna.

Beside her, Gentiana had brought the Regalia up toward them. "Much left to see. Even more still to do."

"True," Cindy turned back to the road, adjusting her white jacket.

"It's just the beginning," Iris said, but her voice held only optimism.

Luna waited a moment before following.

It was just the beginning. But they could do it. Together.

* * *

Gralea was not a bright place, naturally. The artificial lighting did nothing to improve this, and as such, the meeting-room was only really illuminated by the few overhead bulbs and the red eyes of the Magi-tek soldiers.

Emperor Iedolas was not bothered, of course. He liked it dark. He liked to see Niflheim armor glinting in low light, to be aware of his guards only by their unnatural eyes gleaming from shadows.

And his guests were used to it as well. They were arranged in front of him, surrounded by the guards Iedolas had appointed. It was dangerous to have so many of his valuable men with him at once, but he needed the information. And new orders, for those, like Ulric and Regis, who needed to be tested.

"So, the princess eludes death. And what of the elusive ring?"

None of his generals reacted to his smooth tone. Regis didn't even blink.

"Noctis has absconded with it." And he didn't shift at the mention of his son. _Curious_ , Iedolas thought. Regis was a better actor than he had expected.

"Find and kill him. The ring is the final piece."

Regis again did not flinch.

"We may do well to take him alive," Verstael commented, his head bowed slightly, his tone overeager. "The Six wield power beyond our imagination. The Oracle holds the key for the Queen. He could unlock many secrets, nay, High Commander?" Verstael pointedly glanced at Regis, but the Lucian did not look away from the wall beside Iedolas' throne. "Lord Regis, the imperial army is now at _your_ disposal."

Regis finally looked away from the wall. "A moot point while the fugitives remain at large." He glared at Verstael, but then turned back to Iedolas. "My men and I will continue our search for the princess and the Oracle."

But Iedolas had already dismissed him from his mind. He looked up, toward where the stolen loot from Tenebrae was held, in Zegnautus Keep. "So glorious… _My_ crystal."

None of his assembled generals responded.

...

* * *

 **A/N:** Uh, hello there? *waves self-consciously*

So I really wasn't expecting the response this got? I mean, wow? Like, this became my most-popular story within two days of posting, so... THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really appreciate it and am blown away by your guys' response.

And I am sorry this took so long,I was planning to write this as I did my second playthrough of the game, but as I literally _just_ got to Keycatrich trench... yeah, that's not going to work out. I'm using trusty youtube instead to keep working on this, since my school and the play I am in has absolutely sucked all the free time out of my life.

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And in addition, as I kept working on chapter two and got to thinking about where this was going, I decided to change a few things. So **look back at chp 1 for a change or two,** including:

-more of the girls' hobbies

-a character switch (a name drop in the last section)

-freaking Ardyn, which for some odd reason I completely left out of chapter one ( past-me what were you thinking, leaving Ardyn out of chapter one?!). Sorry about that.

-did I mention Ardyn? Because Ardyn is there

-and he's kinda important

-mostly Ardyn because I feel bad for forgetting about him

And did you notice a name drop in that last section? Someone? Who shouldn't be there? I'm changing a few things... or a lot of them. But we'll all just have to wait and see how this goes because I literally have no idea how these things are going to work!

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So thank you all SO much I am so grateful for all of your reviews and views and I hope you still like this! I warn you that this chapter is not edited very much so if you see any problems, please bring it to my attention.

More things changed from the original game will appear in the next chapter, so stay tuned! It should hopefully not take me three months to write next chapter but who knows!

And if you have questions about what I've changed, let me know! I'd love to chat.

Have a blessed day!

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Come talk to me on tumblr, under the username literally-in-too-many-fandoms!

this is also posted on archive of our own, under My5tic_Lali and on tumblr, under literally-in-too-many-fandoms!


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